When Should You Use a Recruitment Agency?
Short answer: use a recruitment agency when a vacancy is costing you more in time, risk or missed output than the agency fee would cost — typically when a role is hard to fill, urgent, high-volume, highly specialist, or when your internal team simply doesn’t have the capacity or candidate reach to do it well. […]
How to Choose a Recruitment Agency in Northamptonshire
Most employers choosing a recruitment agency ask the wrong first question. They ask, “who can send me CVs fastest?” The better question is “who actually understands this vacancy, this sector, and this local market well enough to send me the right CVs?” Northamptonshire has no shortage of recruitment agencies claiming local coverage. Local expertise is […]
How to Recruit Warehouse Staff
Recruiting warehouse staff is rarely about finding a person. Most warehouse vacancies need several people, on a set shift pattern, starting on a set date, often at short notice. That changes the recruitment approach significantly compared with hiring one office-based employee. The employers who struggle with warehouse recruitment are usually not struggling to find candidates. […]
Preparing Northamptonshire’s Logistics Workforce for Q4
Costs Are Stabilising Across the Golden Triangle. Retention Should Be the Next Priority. After a difficult first half of the year for logistics operators, there are early signs of relief. Input price pressures and transport surcharges that spiked earlier in 2026, driven largely by fuel volatility linked to Middle East supply disruption, have started to […]
How local manufacturing and engineering firms can structure competitive offers to secure talent in a tightening candidate market
Manufacturing Orders Are Recovering Faster Than Hiring Is The latest S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI data shows factory output accelerating at its fastest pace in almost two years, with the flash reading hitting 52.8 in July, comfortably in expansion territory, and the ninth straight month above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction. Here’s […]
Why hiring managers in Northamptonshire should focus on practical software skills over formal qualifications
New UK labour market data released this week confirms something Northamptonshire commercial and office employers have been feeling for a while: the old hiring formula isn’t working anymore. Indeed’s latest Hiring Lab report shows demand for AI and automated tools has hit 9.4% of all UK job postings – a record high. At the same […]
Northamptonshire Jobs Market Snapshot: July 2026
Midlands Hiring in June If it’s felt harder than usual to get permanent hires over the line this year, you’re not imagining it and you’re not alone. The latest labour market data for the Midlands shows permanent hiring is still contracting. But there’s a genuinely encouraging detail buried in the numbers: the slowdown is losing […]
UK Manufacturing Recruitment Snapshot: July 2026
What June’s Manufacturing Data Means If You’re Trying to Hire Right Now If you’re responsible for headcount at a manufacturing, industrial, supply chain or engineering business in Northamptonshire, you’ve probably noticed something that doesn’t quite add up this year: things feel busier, but nobody seems in a rush to hire. June’s UK Manufacturing PMI data […]
What to do when your shortlist keeps disappointing you
You’ve been through this before. A role opens up, you brief the agency, and a few days later a shortlist lands in your inbox. You open it with reasonable expectations. You close it with the same quiet deflation you felt last time — CVs that don’t quite fit, candidates who look plausible on paper but […]
When is the right time to look for a new job?
It’s Sunday evening and the thought arrives uninvited. Maybe it’s time to start looking for a new job. Between finishing dinner and thinking about the week ahead you open LinkedIn or Indeed, scroll for a bit, close the tab. By Tuesday, the feeling has faded. Work is fine again and the thought goes back wherever […]
